User Reviews

Reviews by vacax:

Pours a dark brown with a small off-white head. Aroma of pine with some fruitiness, esters, and malt sweetness. Tastes is a mix of overly sweet malt backbone along with plenty of piney fruity hops. Unfortunately, neither element is done well. The finish is mostly twangy syrupy malt, like a poorly executed homebrew. Moderately thick body with appropriate carbonation levels. Drinkable, but not pleasurable, I would not order this again.

More User Reviews:

On-tap at Cismontane Santa Ana and served in a half-pint. On to the beer:

A small head rests on top of this reddish orange colored beer. Several strings of lacing stick to the walls of the glass. The aroma takes me to a magical land. Although the emphasis is on the hops, the malt puts on a great show too. Carmelized malts create the backdrop for passionfruit, mango, and pine to land.

As good as the aroma is, Double Rainbow tastes even better! It tastes similar to what I smell, although there's a tropical fruit note which amplifies the fun. The alcohol content hides itself well, presenting just a wee solvent note of itself, which makes this beer dangerously drinkable despite a medium/full (yet smooth) body.

I am drinking this at 7 months old. L: a 22 oz bottle pours slightly hazy copper tinted amber into an ale glass producing a 3” sticky white foam collar that takes 3 minutes to recede to a thick film that leaves splotchy lace on the glass. S: Citrus, biscuit, fruit and a trace of nut aromas rise from the glass. T: The attack starts with light grains, a dash of toffee, bran flakes, and fruit, primarily melon, citrus and hints of tropical fruit, with a big assertive bitterness that enters mid palate and lingers. It is a quinine bitter rather than citrus. F: Very creamy soft palate with a medium full body and medium carbonation. O: This is a very satisfying hop driven bitter elixir.

Had this on tap at the Blue Palms while watching Marquette whip up on West Virginia during the conference tournament.

Delivered looking like a darker beer, brown colored, hmmm, not a brown ale, not a porter. Clumpy lace. Aroma was massively piney. If that's your thing you're going to love the smell, which I did.

Taste, a little syrupy, that pine hop flavor is still there. Big on the caramel, ample sweetness to it. Big on the commonly used phrase, 'malt backbone'. This one nicely still leans towards the hops, and covers up the alcohol nicely. Felt it afterwards, but not during.

Deep amber red with dark chestnut brown colors, and a great dark gem like crystal appearance. Fine carbonation meeting to a small somewhat three finger controlled head with a bit of creamy and light khaki color. Pill lacing, some good retention and a small island top. The beer just gleams.

Tea and soft to wet like hop aromas emanate off the first whiff. Leafy green and a chewy hop, almost taffy but less sweet and airy toasted bread. Dark notes of toast minus the caramel, leaving sweetness somewhere else but a juicy sensing hop profile with a unique herbality seems to be unleashed. Very impressive.

Palate floats with a bit of syrupy textures and flavors but manages to bring itself back down to earth. Slightly more fruity mid hop palate, juiced with a bit of pine and earthy quality, and an indistinct fruity character. Finishes with toasty and lighter aromas of pine and faint caramel to match. A bit of boozy warmth though on the finish that lingers.

A decent solid amped amber that manages to stay away from thick caramel, but does have a bit of heat that is unexpected.

One of those darker than expected and average SRM for style beers. Aroma was dropping those pine forest smells.

Thick viscosity, like some of those pine feels brought some sap with them and thickened the body up here. Caramel flows big time. Alcohol absorbed, pumps the hops. A heavy beer but it works. Manages to drop more 90s hop mouthfeel without being one dimensional or excessive with the bitterness.

S: Initially there is a pungent burst of pine foliage and grapefruit citrus, alongside some butter. Over time those volatile smells give way to aggressive caramel and husky grain. No alcohol is detected.

T: Begins sweet, with a diverse display of aromatic hop flavors--resinous pine, tropical fruit, dark citrus, and flowers. Malt flavors do not stand out early, but their presence is enough to support the hops. The emergence of bitterness occurs early in the middle, waiting a few beats but then coming on strong--astringent and even with a whiff of solvent at times. The finish remains aggressively bitter, with flavors turning more toward grapefruit peel. The flavor of alcohol is well-masked, never standing out but likely contributing to some of the other flavor qualities detected.

M: Medium viscosity, more slick than sticky, with low carbonation. The burn of alcohol is felt on the palate during the challenging middle.

D: Despite some mis-steps, this beer delivers the hops. It should too, having been constructed around a two-part profile of pure bitterness delivered by the millennium cultivar, and flavor/aroma provided by citra. The more questionable qualities seem to diminish as time passes, and by the end of the glass those grievances once held seem not so important any more. I was curious how this one would turn out, since I have learned from my short time spent sampling the beers of Cismontane that these guys are not on-board with the trend toward hoppier, less balanced ales in America. It appears that they took one for the screaming masses this time, though future moves in this direction remain a question mark.

Bottle dated 160311 into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Pours a caramel amber with 2+ fingers of high density khaki head, with great head retention and heavy ringed lacing. Nose is sweet, wanted much more hop contribution. Taste was a bit better than the nose, more balance of hop character and sweetness. Mouthfeel was good, carbonation on the higher side, and the finish had a little burn of alcohol. Hoppy reds are one of my favorite styles, and this one misses the mark for my palate, wanted much more hop character.

Growler filled from the last keg that exists at Cismontane's tasting room during their one-year anniversary weekend. Thanks Evan and Ross!

a: Pours dark amber--darker than expected for a double IPA--with a thick off-white frothy head similar to a Belgian or a beer poured on nitro. It was more clear than I remembered it being when I had it on draft earlier this year--probably because of the aging.

s: Great, pungent hop aroma of pine and citrus, especially grapefruit from the citra. The strong malt aroma detracts from floral aspect more than I would like, but what's there is all I need.

t: Sweetness kicks in first, but the middle and back is bitter with a sticky, roasted malt. The aftertaste is more balanced than most IPAs, benefiting from the roastier character. mmmm.

m: Heavy body that thickens as it warms. So much heavier and maltier than other DIPAs, you'd think it was a hopped-up imperial red or an American strong ale.

overall: If Lagunitas dry hopped Brown Shugga with citra or Oskar Blues Gordon had more beef, it might be within range of this brew. Not as alcohol-forward as a barleywine yet, but I doubt there's any left for aging to find out. I hope they brew this again!

Also, can you give extra points for an awesome name? (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/double-rainbow)

s: citrus-forward with some associated sweetness--not too heavy on malts

t: begins with very good balance of mildly sweet malts and citrus-heavy hops. though it is more malt-heavy, it manages to achieve good balance of flavors -- a nice journey of flavor from malts to very manageable hops.

m: very smooth mouthfeel that blends malts and hops very well -- better than most actually, making for a nice balanced dipa. plenty of carbonation.

d: at nearly 9%, seemed more drinkable and smooth, but obviously hits u sooner rather than later

Pours a clear dark reddish-orange with a foamy bone head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, citrus fruit, citrus zest, and slight herbal hop aromas. Taste is much the same with sweet citrus zest and herbal hop flavors on the finish. There is a medium amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with a hop profile that leans a bit more towards the herbal side of things.